Close call for our bathing pools
I'M NOT the first to be bewitched by Guernsey's seawater bathing pools. Generations of islanders and visitors have experienced the thrill of swimming as the water streams in over the walls on an incoming tide, setting up a choppy oscillation. They know the joy of floating in an infinity pool as the tide goes out and the excitement of touching the tops of the railings under the water on a high tide when only the tip of the diving board is visible; that moment when the familiar ironwork glides underneath you and you know that now you're out into the deep.
This is what it's all about, but did you know in 1977 the island nearly lost two of these historic bathing places? The gents' pool – that's the first one after the Half Moon cafe – and the Horseshoe, the little inlet bounded by two slipways tucked under the cliff before the road narrows.
The then Recreation Committee claimed it was forced into a corner by a combination of declining use and increasing maintenance costs.
It put the alternatives to the States: either we continue to maintain all four pools at additional cost or we abandon the gents' pool and the Horseshoe (salvaging any useful stone in the process) and concentrate our efforts on the ladies' and children's pools at the Vallette kiosk.
The suggestion the island should give up on two treasured bathing places caused outcry. Two hundred people attended a public meeting to show their dismay.
When it came to the vote, States members chose overwhelmingly to maintain all four.
Many followed the lead of Deputy Bill Green – himself a swimmer – who spoke out on the value of the amenity and its importance as part of the island's heritage. The pools were safe ... for the moment.
Well, here we are 37 years later. Devastating storms have done unfathomable damage to the pools. Gents and Horseshoe are closed to the public. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose?
Watch the space as Culture and Leisure prepares to reword the 1977 Billet, even down to the attempt to get Advisory and Finance, as it was then, to agree to give extra funding from the coastal defences budget. A&F responded with a resounding 'no', made especially clear in the case of the Horseshoe – 'expenditure of the magnitude envisaged cannot be justified on the Horseshoe Pool. The pool yields no income and usage is of an inconsequential nature.'
Fast forward to 2014 and T&R is being asked for emergency funding from the contingency reserve. We await the answer.
Much will depend on what the engineers think the final repair bill will be – and that's just to maintain the status quo.
The long-term future of the pools is by no means secure.
The trouble is, they've never been cheap to maintain and in the 21st century scheme of things they're low priority. Understandable perhaps when Beau Sejour's indoor pool is so much more appealing for the majority of islanders and Guernsey schools boast their own heated pools.
Have a look at the railings at the children's pool and you'll see a perfect illustration of the cheapskate attitude towards maintenance – shiny new stainless steel horizontals threaded through ancient rusting stanchions. Penny wise, pound foolish as some clever commentator put it.
Now fingers crossed, as things stand no one is suggesting any of the bathing places be abandoned. And far be it for me to put ideas into Culture and Leisure's head, but history does have an uncanny habit of repeating itself and current circumstances have a familiar ring. Back in 1977, people cared enough to save all the pools. Would they do the same if put to the test today?
True, there's an encouraging revival of interest in tidal swimming pools and lidos in general. This, coupled with an increasing awareness of their value as heritage sites, could help the cause. One can but hope, but hope may not be enough.
Maybe it's time to start mustering support and preparing a solid case for the defence of all four of these national treasures.
SUE CORYNDON,
Freelance broadcast journalist BBC (views are my own).
